Interestingly, Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats are loss-making or barely profitable despite taking a cut from the restaurant, charging the customer and paying the drivers a pittance. It will be interesting to see how patient the shareholders are.
Yes, it’s insane what people will use Deliveroo or just eat for. Supermarket orders of fags and booze, a portion of fish and chips from a takeaway 3 minutes walk away etc. their cyclists are a menace riding around like a swarm of wasps through pedestrianised streets or the wrong way down a one way street etc.
Nothing wrong with this of course, but if your curry restaurant or takeaway of choice have their own delivery service available we should all use that. ALL the money goes to the establishment and not the Delivery investors sat in the middle skimming off 15% for doing nothing. Unfortunately, people would much rather pay just Eat a tenner than phone their local takeaway which makes me very sad for local businesses.
This is what I have noticed decades ago. I aim for a curry house that does not have a drinks licence (not always successfully). Not only do I get to buy my booze cheaper but I can buy what I want to drink. An added bonus is most restaurants that have no drinks licence seem to cook better and cheaper meals - to try to make themselves attractive I suppose.
Best story I had was a cycle delivery guy telling me that he had delivered a McDonalds to a 3rd floor flat NEXT-DOOR to the McDonalds he collected from !.
Winding the clock back further. The vast majority of people used to NEVER eat out back in the 1950s (maybe 1960s). My grandmother never did. How we have progressed from not cooking our own food (restaurants but also ready meals I suppose) to not even going out to eat or get the meal !.
It was a very rare occurrence in the 80s for my parents too, only when we were either on holiday or when on day trips in the summer, I don't recall ever eating out anywhere near our home.
Or (as in my case) the customer is suffering from very poor mobility and pain that makes going out extremely unpleasant.
Probably someone who calculates the value of their time to the exact second as to whether it's worth doing something one way or the other...?
One Sunday morning I walked passed a flat having a McDonald's delivered from the restaurant 400m away.
It's probably not the way you wanted me to interpret your answer, but looking at it from another view one area where there appears to be a lot of success is the market hall type concept whereby food vendors set up in a shared building with a common food court seating area. So yes, in a way, it is ending up like a department store, with a lot of smaller concessions within a large building.
I think you have a point there. A shared food hall solves the problem of members of a group wanting different types of meal. Catering for a diverse set of food preferences dare I say !.
That is true. Those have failed to attract my curiosity.
Outback Steakhouse never bloomed in the UK. (Despite the name, US based.)
The only times I ever visited TGI Fridays were on team nights out from work, and I got the distinct impression from observing other tables that a fair chunk of their other customers were there for the same reason.
That is a good point - corporate entertainment.
You have mentioned a few names there I had forgotten ever existed. And prompts me to add littlewoods - their five or seven item breakfast I used to have on Saturday (late) mornings and I do not think I ever bought anything from the rest of the store.
Last Wimpy I saw (eat in with a plate style) was opposite Wetherspoons so I expect there could be more around.
The Baconator might actually be the USP that ensures their survival.Absolutely love a Baconator
Your right Five Guys is much more expensive and puts Wendys much nearer to Burger King on prices by comparison. When Five Guys first opened in Croydon it was very busy. I was aware of lots of offers but it was too busy for me to bother. Months later they were quiet enough for me to take a look - but cost a lot more than I expected !. Nowadays the Croydon branch of Five Guys is looking rather dead so not sure how long they will last.
Yes. Not the best Spoons in Croydon but now the only one left of what were four !. But I think Spoons will maybe survive due to drastic cutting back.
I have heard people (outside this forum) mention they think Wetherspoons might be going under. This is based on there having been plenty of closures and also sales of pubs but as going concerns. I am not so sure and my view is that the owner is being rather cautious and not complacent (some might say mecenary ?). So I suspect if pubs in general are to survive then Wetherspoons will still be around but in smaller numbers.
